[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 43 (Thursday, April 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3206-S3207]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH
Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise today to commemorate National
Autism Awareness Month and to urge my fellow Senators to continue to
back efforts to fight this disorder and support the families affected
by it.
Autism is a complex developmental disability that is the result of a
neurological disorder that affects the normal functions and development
of the brain, which affects social and communication skills. Autism is
a spectrum disorder, making early diagnosis crucial to minimize the
symptoms through specialized intervention programs.
Autism and its associated behaviors have been estimated to occur in
as many as 2 to 6 in every 1,000 individuals. As many as 1.5 million
Americans today are believed to have some form of autism. The
Department of Education indicates that autism is growing at a rate of
10 to 17 percent per year. At these rates, the prevalence of autism
could reach 4 million Americans in the next decade.
The prevalence of autism has increased astronomically in the past
decade, and in certain areas of New Jersey, the rates are higher still.
We know far too little about this disorder, and the work of the Centers
for Disease Control, CDC, and the National Institutes of Health, NIH,
is vital to our efforts to learn more about the nature and incidence of
autism.
I am a proud cosponsor of S. 843, the Combating Autism Act of 2005,
which authorizes $860 million over 5 years to combat autism through
research, screening, intervention, and education. I urge my fellow
Senators to support the passage of this bill so that we can continue
efforts to eliminate autism.
Congress approved the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,
IDEA, in 1975, requiring States to provide an appropriate education to
students with special needs. While it committed to providing 40 percent
of the additional costs for educating such students, today the Federal
Government funds only 17.8 percent of the cost. In the fiscal year 2006
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill,
the Federal Government cut back on its share of the cost of providing
special education. This leaves State governments and local school
districts to choose between paying the extra cost or cutting programs.
It is vital that Congress fund IDEA at the fully authorized level. I
urge my fellow Senators to support IDEA and pass S. 2185, the IDEA Full
Funding Act.
Congress must remain committed to supporting efforts by medical
researchers, doctors, schools, State and local governments, and
families to learn more about autism and to treat it. This disorder
affects too many already. We must do what we can to eliminate future
cases while we treat people who currently have autism. I hope we can
all join together in this important fight and recognize the importance
of National Autism Awareness Month.
Bob Newhart
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, recently The New York Times ran another
profile of Bob Newhart. I say ``another'' because it is one of so many
glowing articles written about him over the years.
Marcelle and I are fortunate to know Bob and his wife Virginia, known
by everyone as Ginnie. Bob is a wonderful family person who enjoys
being with his wife, children, and grandchildren, but still has time to
bring joy to everyone who comes in contact with him. As many times as I
have heard some of his comedy routines, I still find myself convulsed
in laughter, though nothing can equal the quiet times Marcelle and I
have been able to spend with the Newharts.
Bob is extraordinarily well read and well informed and brings a wry
and insightful view to whatever is happening. I can think of no one who
is his equal, and I ask unanimous consent that this article be printed
in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From The New York Times, Mar. 25, 2006]
The Button-Down Comic, Still Standing Up at 76
(By Ben Sisario)
Los Angeles, March 24: Hidden behind a wide black gate,
with a fountain in front and a big pool in back that the
grandchildren love to dive into, and with the bookcases
inside cluttered with the likes of David McCulloch and Joseph
J. Ellis, Bob Newhart's house in Bel Air would seem a
perfectly comfortable spot for a man of 76 to cocoon and
write his memoirs.
But a comedian craves the sound of laughter, and Mr.
Newhart, though happily deep into his golf-playing years,
cannot stay away from the stand-up circuit. He does about 30
dates a year, mostly on short weekend trips. (He will perform
tonight at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts.)
``I can't imagine not doing it,'' he said, sitting on an
overstuffed sofa in his living room, in crisp gray slacks and
a fuzzy blue sweater, with his narrow reading glasses resting
at a steep angle almost at the tip of his nose. ``It's
something I've done for 46 years, and at 5 o'clock I'll start
pacing up and down to get the adrenaline going. It's like
Russian roulette--you're out there and it's working and
you're saying, `Thank God the bullet's not in the chamber.'
''
Mr. Newhart built his career on a persona that would avoid
tension and thrills at all cost. He emerged in the early
1960's as a former accountant and copywriter who acted out
the mundane and ridiculous details of great moments in
history through brilliantly minimalistic one-sided telephone
calls, like a gigglingly skeptical Englishman talking to Sir
Walter Raleigh about his discovery of tobacco. (``You take a
pinch of tobacco and you stuff it up your nose and it makes
you sneeze? Yeah, I imagine it would, Walt!'') And on two
long-running sitcoms, he played versions of the same
character, a slightly grouchy pragmatist always just a breath
away from losing his cool over the neurotic foibles of his
supporting cast.
``The Bob Newhart Show'' ran from 1972 to 1978 and is now
finding a second life on DVD; its third season is being
reissued April 11.
[[Page S3207]]
And since his second sitcom, ``Newhart,'' ended in 1990 after
eight seasons, Mr. Newhart has lent his almost-unflappable
deadpan to a handful of films and television shows, most
recently ``ER'' and ``Desperate Housewives.'' But his
favorite activity remains simply standing in front of a crowd
with a microphone.
``I'm proudest of being a stand-up,'' he explained,
``because it's harder. The degree of difficulty is 3.85
instead of 3.5.''
It was also his baptism. Sitting in his spacious living
room, dressed like the frumpy innkeeper of ``Newhart'' and
speaking with a strategic stammer that sets up every punch
line, he is comfortingly recognizable as one of his
television characters. His naturalistic technique of relying
on his own personality to fill out his characters, he said,
is a skill he picked up early in his stand-up career.
``You start out doing somebody else,'' he said. ``I'd watch
the Sullivan show and I'd watch the Paar show, and a comedian
would be on, and I'd be laughing but at the same time
analyzing him. When I started, I was doing all the good
comedians I'd ever seen. Then I developed my own voice. My
routines are my natural way of looking at the world.''
Mr. Newhart discusses his performance like a serious method
actor. He said: ``With the stand-up comic on TV, whether it's
Seinfeld or Cosby or Roseanne, more important than their
knowledge of how to tell a joke is their knowledge of
themselves, or the persona they've created as themselves. So
that when you're in a room with writers you can say, `Guys,
that's a funny line but I wouldn't say it.' ''
As a stand-up, he draws from a lifetime of routines, and
for his oldest fans he always includes a few numbers from his
first albums, like the conversation between Abraham Lincoln
and his public relations man, who urges him not to shave his
beard because it plays so well in focus groups. Reading
recently about the Zacarias Moussaoui trial, his ``button-
down mind'' found an angle on the 9/11 pilots, and he has
been toying with it as a possible stand-up bit.
``They didn't want to learn to take off and land,'' he
said. ``They just wanted to fly. Some have criticized the
F.B.I. because that should have been a red flag. But I saw it
as a case of--'' he studied his coffee table it as if it were
a weekly planner--`` `O.K., well, I don't have to come in
Monday; I can come in late Tuesday; Wednesday and Thursday,
O.K., that's flying; and then I don't have to come in
Friday.' ''
His understated style has been widely influential, often in
surprising ways. One of his biggest fans is Bernie Mac, who
says he is but one of a generation of black comedians who
were inspired by Mr. Newhart.
``A lot of people define courage as being out front and in
your face,'' Mr. Mac said, ``but Bob didn't come out of his
picture frame for anybody. That bland style, that plaid
jacket, with the hair combed to one side over the bald spot--
that was Bob. And there's nothing wrong with that. Because it
takes courage to be yourself, and he showed everybody that.''
Working on his memoir, to be published in the fall by
Hyperion, Mr. Newhart was reminded of the time he was on
David Susskind's talk show with a panel of comedians,
including Buddy Hackett and Alan King, and Mr. Susskind asked
him about his background.
`` `You went to college?' he asked,'' Mr. Newhart said.
``And I said, `Yes, I went to Loyola University and I got a
degree in accounting.' And Buddy said--'' here Mr. Newhart
did a remarkable imitation of Mr. Hackett's voice--`` `You
mean you didn't have to do this?' ''
``And now I can say, `No, Buddy, I had to do this.'
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